Lost Magic

Answers

"Well? Are you going to say anything?" I demanded. The boy hesitated before looking at his feet.
"I'm not from around here." He replied quietly. He had a different sort of accent...an accent that immediately made me think that what he had said was quite an odd thing to say because, of course, he obviously wasn't from around these parts. Surely the fact that he didn't even know the story of the Breakwater was proof of that? I stared expectantly at him, waiting for him to say something else or at least explain where he was from and why he was here. But he didn't.
I was confused. Why would someone suddenly turn up here and not tell anybody anything about himself? I looked closely at the boy and noticed that his eyes were full of tears. Gosh. He must've been through a lot. I have to admit that made me feel really bad. I decided to take a softer approach.
"Hey, are you alright?" I asked gently. He didn't answer, so I crawled next to him and sat cross legged looking over the ocean. I hadn't realised how late it had gotten. The sun was already almost set, but even so it looked beautiful over the deep blue water.
"I love this place." I said aloud. "It makes me feel like I can escape from the world around me when times get tough. It makes me feel free." I turned and smiled at the boy. He was looking at me now.
"You know, it doesn't really matter where you're from. I'm not going to judge you or anything. Please tell me about yourself!" I pleaded. He still didn't answer. Okay, this was beginning to annoy me now. "Okay, I'll make you a deal. You tell me about yourself and I'll tell you about myself. Deal?" I asked him. He hesitated. Then he slowly nodded his head in agreement.
"Alright then. Where are you from?" I questioned.
"The North mountains." He replied quietly.
I frowned. "What brings you here then?"
"I got lost." He said.
"That's not really what happened is it?" I asked doubtfully.
"I don't want to talk about it okay?" He snapped. I hadn't expected that.
"Sorry." I replied. His gaze softened a bit.
"What's your name by the way? Mine's Ashley."
"Kai." He half smiled.
I sucked in a deep breath. "Okay then. You told me a bit about yourself, not much but still, so here goes nothing. I'm fifteen years old, live in the small and basically unknown town of Broken Edge with my nan, have no siblings, my favourite colour is green and I don't like spiders."
"What about your parents?" Kai asked.
My face fell. "They died when I was four." I replied quietly.
"Oh." He said. "Sorry for asking."
I half smiled. "Its okay. I don't really remember them anyway."
We spent the next few minutes in silence. To be honest, I don't think either of us had any idea of what to say. So instead we just admired the view. I broke the silence.
"Where are you staying?" I asked. It immediately seemed like a stupid question and I mentally cursed myself for my thoughtlessness.
Kai shrugged. "Somewhere, I guess." I had expected him to say something snarky like "At broken edge of course!" but his innocence moved me. Of course at that moment my mouth decided to take things into its own hands (note the sarcasm there).
"Why don't you stay with my nan and I?" I blurted out. "I mean, if you want to that is. I'm not forcing you or anything!" I hurriedly added. I felt like slapping myself for my stupidity.
"Nah. I'm okay." Kai said to me "I'll probably head back home anyway."
I stared in disbelief. "But you can't! The North mountains are ages and ages away. You can't go now when it's dark! And it's wolf season, you'd be crazy to go all the way there by yourself! Besides," I added, "I still haven't told you the story of the Breakwater." Kai stood up.
"I make no promises as to how long I will stay," He said, "but I will stay at least a few more days. However, I cannot stay with you and your nan. I would never dream of putting that pressure on her or you."
"O-ok" I stuttered. His voice had changed. Whereas before he had sounded timid, scared and shy, he now sounded calm, and really firm. It scared me.
Without a word more, he walked to the edge of the sheltered overhang and jumped right off of it and into the ocean. Wait the ocean? I ran to the edge and looked down, but Kai was nowhere to be seen.